Hiking Minnesota's Two Best Waterfalls

Grand Marais and Grand Portage

We're currently on a 30-day road trip to see more of America. While in Minnesota we specifically drove to the upper North East corner of the state on Lake Superior to hike the waterfalls at both Grand Marais and Grand Portage. You have to be going there to get there - but, in our opinion, it was worth the drive – just watch out for the mosquitoes. 

​The first hike that we took was to see the waterfalls located in the Judge C.R. Magney State Park; the "Lower Falls", the "Upper Falls" and the "Devil's Kettle". The roundtrip hike to the Devil's Kettle falls is ~2 1/4 miles. At the Upper Falls you can stand directly in front of the falls and get a refreshing shower. At the Devil’s Kettle Falls half of the Brule River flows into a giant pothole and disappears into the Earth. But where does all that water go? Experiments conducted in fall 2016 by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources indicated that the disappearing water simply flows back into the Brule River shortly below the falls. However, folklore still maintains that the water disappears underground and heads to Lake Superior since people have dropped sticks, ping pong balls, and GPS trackers into the Devil's Kettle without seeing them resurface downstream. Here are a few photos and a short video of the sights we saw at Grand Marais (click on any photo to start the slideshow):

In addition, here's a link to the Park's website if you want a little more information: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/park.html?id=spk00193#homepag

​The second waterfall hike that we took was to see the "High Falls" located on the Pigeon River in Grand Portage State Park; essentially at the US-Canadian border. The High Falls waterfall is the largest waterfall (120 foot drop) in Minnesota and has a lookout platform ~100 feet from the falls; close enough to get some great photos and feel the spray. The hike to the falls is quite easy since the there's a path and a boardwalk all the way. In the 17th century Grand Portage became a major center of the fur trade in North America because it was the point where the fur trappers left the great lakes and headed into the outback. Grand Portage got its name because the route began with a 9 mile portage where the canoes and equipment had to be carried over land to a safe location on the Pigeon River above the waterfalls and rapids. Here are a few photos and a short video of the sights we saw at Grand Portage (click on any photo to start the slideshow): 

In addition, here's a link to the Park's website if you want a little more information: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/park.html?id=spk00173#homepag